How Real Estate Operators Are Adapting to AI, Fraud, and Changing Payment Workflows with Patrick Ghilani, CEO of MRI Software

Welcome to the power of change, the podcast that delves into the intersection of leadership and technology in the finance world. I'm your host, Michael Prager, the CEO and co founder of AvidXchange. In each episode, I dive into the leadership topics and industry trends with business leaders, partners, and customers who embrace the power of change. Today, we have a really exciting guest with us, the CEO of MRI Software, Pat Gulani. MRI Software is a real estate technology platform operating in more than 170 countries around the globe. Pat has led the company since 2014, growing revenue tenfold and earning MRI repeated spots in the Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest growing private companies. A pioneer in pushing the real estate industry towards open, connected and AI powered platforms. His leadership has been recognized with the RealCom Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025 and the Julie Devine Digital Impact Award. Outside of MRI, he founded the MRI Software Foundation focused on education and housing assistance for underserved communities. Pat sits on the board of Insurity and Connective and holds a degree in supply chain management from Michigan State. Welcome to the show, Pat. MRI operates today across the, I think it's amazing. It's like 170 plus countries and you guys have been machine in terms of both acquisitions as well as kind of global expansion. But you operate across both the commercial real estate, multifamily, retail, affordable housing and handful of other sectors. When your customers are you know looking to kind of make payments, how do the needs change from you know different verticals across the different segments that you have? And are there kind of universal pain points that you hear about in terms of the payment process for your customers? The the old school consultant in me wants to say that all payments processes are exactly the same and it's it's, you know, you you have a need, you gotta pay for it, you gotta pay it, and it's just the mediums that change in a process that was started when currency began. But the reality is it is more than that. And, you know, the fact is is it's really the risks and and needs within the processes that vary. Yes, of course. You know, there's there's vendors and and and contractors and service providers. There's not a company on the planet that doesn't have somebody to pay. So commonality. There's not a company on the planet that wouldn't like to pay efficiently, effectively, keep their money as long as they can without being late, take advantage of discounts. Those are all fundamentals. Right? How can I pay more efficiently? How can I do it, you know, so that I can get the most productivity out of my staff? All commonalities. I think where it differs is, you know, in the residential world. You know, we have clients that are dealing with making payments to companies that are much smaller than, you know, General Electric. Right? So it's it's it's it's Joe's Landscaping Company. And so paying Joe's Landscaping Company actually becomes a unique differentiator even though it's a a one person shop down the street with the lawn mower. Sometimes that's actually can be harder when you get electronic than it is paying, you know, the world's largest, you know, company. So I I think there are differences. I think the risks that people have differ in size and scale. I think certain... For for me, there's certainly differences when when we have processes in different countries and different currencies. But primarily in North America, I think it's the the type of payments people make, the size of payments, and their desire where they hold the risk pendulum of being on time, being late, and and so forth. Yep. Well said. The real estate industry has been through a lot in the last five. I mean, COVID is just like, you know, what had a major impact in terms of how people, you know, work, right? And the impact on commercial real estate at the same time is I'm sure is a big catalyst in terms of the multifamily sector, more people being at home and just the growth of multifamily. In the kind of the current environment today as it's been this you know, kind of up and down over the last five years, what are you seeing, you know, across your customers in terms of, like, focus on reducing costs, getting more efficient, using automation to become more strategic? And what are your forward thinking customers, you know, doing differently today? You know, real estate, they always say every every decade it has a new challenge, and every decade it's found a way to win. I I do think the real estate sector, has the most entrepreneurial spirit. They have always seemed to find a way. So let's start first of all with, you know, the the pivot points from the asset itself. So, you know, it used to be you have just pure commercial companies, pure multifamily companies, people that just did retail. Clearly, the diversification of the assets use case is is way in vogue. You know, the idea of of putting an entire facility from skyscraper to small community building and and make it one thing is is is a riskier proposition. Now having said that, you have some some great things happening. You're seeing, you know, beautiful buildings, old office buildings being transformed into condominiums and and affordable housing. And so those are all those are all great things that kinda protect the long term value of the asset. Now as it relates to efficiency, there's two types of of people. There's the people that stop remodeling, stop building, and just hunker down on costs. Those are the people where you see go from class a, class b, class c. And then there's the person that says, hey. This is where we need to invest, not only in the physical asset, but how we market this building, how we create our contracts. I mean I mean, look at what's happening with, you know, the the the move to the hybrid office, the virtual work space. It's not just the companies that did office rentals doing office rentals. Now you have major office companies, office owner, investors, and and offices that are doing leases now where people can buy a desk, you know, lease a desk if you will. So I I I think the creativity of how they bring their revenue in, how they... You know, the the back office continues to be very efficient. But how you market, how you sell, how you close... It's interesting, you know, within the real estate sector, our, you know, view in this is real estate companies aren't like you and I who are software companies. Companies. Right? They're not going to be then the forefront of Right. Investing in and developing, you you know, typically AI platforms for their business. But what I... The trend I see is that they're being very careful who they select as partners to make sure that companies like MRI and Avid Exchange are on the forefront of leaning into AI so we can bring those tools to them through our platforms and our delivery methods. And what are you seeing from your customers in terms of, you know, that dynamic and how are they wrestling with the AI, you know, story today? I think that that it is currently a wrestle, meaning, you know, there's lots of everyone thinks they have the answer. We we really don't know the result of of how this will pan out. I remember when you and I were growing up and they said, you know, robots were gonna take over the world. And Or the .com era. Right? Yeah. Exactly. Of course. The .com era era. Of course. And and the reality is major change, pivot. You can still buy a book at an old school bookstore, you can still buy a book online. They're both models will will will survive. Right? That's my thought process. But I think what we're finding is most of our clients are looking for us to help them answer when it comes to how we do business with them and for them and add value for them, they're looking for us to bring the tools, the the orchestration layer of AI to the table. There, of course, are some of our largest largest Fortune 500, Fortune 100 clients on a global basis that clearly are building AI capabilities internally, and and we will we will support that and make sure we're connecting our data and our workflows. But I say a good majority of our clients are looking for us as their trusted partner to bring them the agents and bring them the communication with the data and the communication with the workflow. And so that's the the promise we've made them. Yeah. And I I think, know, one of those areas that we as, you know, being in the payments business like we are, we hear a lot about is fraud. And and it's an interesting one because we we use a lot of AI capabilities and agents to help prevent fraud. At the same time, AI has probably been the... One of the biggest catalyst for the fraud industry, you know, kind of being, you know, in the forefront of creating more fraud for our customers. As well as some payment fraud and just security around their payments, what are you hearing from your customers in terms of that importance? We have been doing fraud and security control on the multifamily side for many, many years. Now it's not direct... Directly related to an individual payment. Right. It's more directly related to, okay, a, do you qualify to even be a a a tenant? Then b, you know, you you go to very few apartment buildings in America, there's not a little sign in front that says, you know, we use Checkpoint ID powered by MRI software. And that is, you know, the driver's license. We use visual AI to determine that your face is the one on the picture. But on the payments front, look, we've seen... And I've been with our company for twenty years. We've seen some really interesting things. We've seen where, you know, our clients' internal folks have have created fraud by creating fake vendors, and, you know, we've seen where the vendors themselves try to become fraudulent with with the client. We... We've honestly seen it all. I will tell you, when I look back ten to fifteen years, the amount of claims and security related issues have gone down significantly. And I do think it's, like, you know, companies like you and I that have allowed that to happen. Yep. No. Well said. You've been MRI twenty years. I've been doing this since I'm six now this year. And MRI was the first really partnership ever and strategic partnership that Avid Exchange ever had. Going back now, you know, twenty five years, and you and I, you know, kind of built a relationship when... Over the last twenty years in terms of how do we kept thinking about how do we make it more strategic for both of us. Maybe you just comment a little bit on that journey Sure. That it's... What's occurred over the last, you know, twenty years and now, you know, kind of that strategic importance to a partner like AvidXchange for your business. I I use you as an example all the time. And when I think about how we've grown, I think when I met you, we were doing a little over $80,000,000 in revenue as a company, and and we we are 10 plus fold of that now. Yeah. And and... It's it's been amazing to watch that. And and and... But here's the kicker, is that the concept of, you know, two software companies that are are good at what they do and find a handshake that's like peanut butter and jelly Yeah. That makes a sandwich that otherwise wasn't available. For me, it actually set the stage for the direction of our business when, you know, you see the power of... You know, people want consistency, they want security, they want repeatability, but they also want to be able to do things their way, they want personalization. And and so I think our combination allowed that to happen. And and think about it, our partnership was built on adding value, not just technology. I mean, we were doing flat file and then, you know, old integration technologies, then APIs, then white label. Now you can sign into an MRI solution and and and and seamlessly use MRI vendor payments, is Avid Exchange. And you can seamlessly use, you know, automated invoicing, which is Avid Exchange Yeah. Without feeling like you've left the car. Right. Exactly. It's that really embedded user experience. Yeah. And that is so critical because then it's not just selling technology, It's the value and the process that you're solving for, and the technology is just gonna keep changing. And the reality is, with both of our software, you're gonna be able to walk in and just say, hey. Pay everybody that I owe money on today. Boom. That's... It's happening now. Right? So it's exciting. Both of us have lots of different partnerships that support our business. What are those characteristics that really set different partners apart to be really more strategic for your business? I literally made a business decision to stop before and after, where the Avid piece fits in because I'm I'm not gonna do it better than you. And I'm I'm I'm not going to be able to provide that depth. So I'd rather have the little Einstein ship from Avid in the process than for me try to just say rinse and repeat duplicate. I think our clients deserve better than that. I'll turn it around on our side. We'd rather have us being embedded into, your software. So it's your customer experience that you know that your customers are using and it's seamless and it seems like an MRI workflow process from beginning to the end, not realizing that there's different pieces provided by you know example Avid Exchange along the way, right? And that's what creates the great user experience. Exactly. See, Prager, you're thinking about my ice cream analogy here because I always say, you you go to Dairy Queen. You don't want Dairy Queen with peanut butter or toffee. You want it with you want it with Reese's cups and Heath bar. Right? And there's a reason why they partner with them because that's a trusted connection. Bingo. Let's move the lightning round and learn a little bit about, the personal side of Pakalani. What time does your alarm typically go off? So on on a typical day, honestly, I'd say probably around 7AM. Alright. I'm actually a late, I'm a I'm a night owl. So you you will you will more likely see me on on email and text and teams at midnight 1AM than you do at 6AM. So first app that you open when you get up in the morning. Unequivocally, it's it's text first, it's email second, it's my team's messages third. Right? And it's always the work stuff. Right? And and when you run a global company, there's not a minute that goes by while I'm sleeping where something's not happening. So I figure emergency is text, long term, response, what's going on is email. And then I go into Teams last because some of the Teams stuff is more cultural engagement with Yeah. With team versus business. So that's that's the strategy. And then, you know, Apple Apple News. But by then, if there's anything really going on in the world, somebody has texted me, hey, have you seen this? So I'm aware of it even before I go to a commercial site. What's the last question you've asked an AI tool kind of that's, you know, maybe not quite business related, and what tool did you use? So business related, I use it all the time. In fact, I I uploaded an org chart and said, you know, what do you think about this as the next progress of that? And and it's amazing, the the things that it tells you. On the personal front, I will tell you, I pretty much use AI now as my travel, restaurant, where to go. I never go into the old school search engines and say, hey. Which which restaurants buy here? Which... I always go in. If someone says go to these two places, I ask AI what their thoughts are. And and now that AI knows me, it'll literally say, we think you'd like this one more. Is this sending to all the Italian restaurants? I'm not that shallow, Prager. But but it it definitely knows and and it starts to learn you. It's it's a scary awesomeness. And what's the tool that you use? On the personal front, I I primarily use ChatGPT. Yep. Yep. Yeah. At work, on my work computer, you know, we're we're using the things that are built into Salesforce, the things that are built into Microsoft Teams. Well, with that, we're gonna call it a wrap. There's like one great, you know, nugget after another that you gave us today. Thank you. Perfect. And... I appreciate you, my friend. I appreciate you. I appreciate your friendship. I I appreciate the professional relationship. And I... When you have them both, we we can both go to the moon. Alright, my friend. I'll talk to you soon. Have a weekend. Bye bye. Bye now. Thanks for listening to the power of change presented by AvidXchange. If you like what you've heard, subscribe to our channel and leave a five star review. While you're waiting for the next episode, head on over to avidexchange.com for our latest research reports and business insights. And if you're interested in learning more about accounts payable automation from AvidXchange, click the link in our show notes to connect with our experts. Thanks again for listening to the power of change. We'll see you next time.